Ludwig, a content creator, splurges on a pack of original Pokemon cards to see if he can recoup his expenses.

Well-known YouTuber Ludwig put his money into practice by purchasing a collection of original Pokémon cards, planning to grade and stamp them and observe how much he could recover from the venture. Ludwig, famous for his Mogul Mail recordings on YouTube, is no newbie to experiments and reflecting on his existence choices, and his most recent video speaks to how much of a chance this task can be.

The inaugural Pokemon cards came out in 1999 and were an instant hit with kids after the complete set and those lucky enough to get their hands on the elusive cards. After that, people from all walks of life, from the ordinary to the well-known, have prospered from selling Pokemon cards and some were evidently able to quit their day jobs for having made rather generous sums of money.

Ludwig took to his TikTok page, boasting 1.8 million followers, to consider buying a box of original Pokemon cards to find out their market value. He spent $20,000 on the Fossil box set, plus an extra $6,000 on all 396 cards to have them appraised. In the collecting world, having your Pokemon cards evaluated is an esteemed occasion, as an assessor can assign it a score between 1 and 10, with 10 being the greatest achievable. Any blemish or damage can negatively impact the PSA grade of a card, and an ungraded rating of 10 stands for a card that is in prime shape with no flaws.

When Ludwig spent $26,000, he took a significant chance that he would not make any of his money back and end up in debt by thousands. Unfortunately, Ludwig made a net loss of $6,911 and ended up with only $18,589. If he had been lucky enough to get a 1st Edition Holo Charizard during his booster box purchase, he would have seen payouts of up to $500,000. In 2021, amongst individuals, one copy of this card went for $312,000. Presently, similar cards are being sold on platforms such as eBay and Amazon up to almost $600,000.

Ludwig spent a significant sum of money for an experiment which resulted in a successful video on TikTok - 252,000 views and 38,000 likes. Audiences commented on the 54-second clip and criticized Ludwig for destroying a $20 bill. One commenter stated that ‘we all knew you lost money as soon as you thought ripping a $20 bill was a good idea.’ Another renowned TikTok content creator jokingly said he was ‘simply taping that 20 back together.’ Although the set is 24 years old, many are amazed at the amount of money Pokemon cards are worth and how much more it can potentially reach in the future.